19 July 2008.  The One Cornwall Joint Implementation Executive is now homing in on the the boundaries of the Community Network Areas (CNA).

Hayle will be part of the St. Ives and Hayle CNA which is made up of the folowing wards:

• St. Ives North and St. Ives South
• Lelant and Carbis Bay
• Hayle North and Hayle South
• Gwinear-Gwithian and St. Erth

A CNA is an administrative area for the delivery of services and will be governed by a committee containing six unitary councillors and six town/parish councillors.

The Boundary Commission has indicated that, if the Implementation Executive agrees to a council size of 120 to 140, there is a good chance that it can report in time for elections next May or June. After much debate, Penwith District Council agreed to support Kerrier District Council by voting for a council size of 123 members. If approved, this would give Hayle and district three Unitary Council members: Hayle North, Hayle South and Gwinear-Gwithian/St. Erth. If there is not unanimity, the Boundary Commission will require more time and the elections in 2009 will default to 82 members (two for Hayle and district) with further elections perhaps two years later.

The new Hayle North and South wards will look something like the above.

15 June 2008.  On Tuesday 8th July, 10am-3pm, there will be a Penwith Senior Lifeskills Exhibition with 'Information & Inspiration for the Over 60's' at St. John's Hall in Penzance.  Click here for the brochure.

13 June 2008.  The Keep Cancer Care in Cornwall campaign is opposing the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust's plan to move some cancer treatment out of Cornwall.  Please read Sheena Cox's well-researched and informative response and support the campaign.

Cover letter.  Detailed rebuttal of the Trust's plan.

11 June 2008.  The NHS is offering some free cooking courses at the Passmore Edwards Institutefrom the 16th June - 7th of July.

See the poster here.

23 May 2008.  The Director of the Boundary Committee for England has stated that it is unlikely that they will be able to rule on new ward boundaries in time for the April 2009 elections.  Consequently, elections for the new Unitary Council will probably be for 82 councillors as per the current county council.  Read the full text here.

21 May 2008.  The Listed Building Applications for the harbour are now available for download.  Click here.

19 May 2008.  Details of the phasing of the harbour development added to the harbour page.

17 May 2008.  Save Our Sand was out again today doing what they have done so well for over two decades, protesting the removal of sand from the harbour for sale.

The licence issued by PDC allows the sale of 80% of the dredged sand to cover the cost of the work.  Councillors were not consulted on the terms of the licence although statutory consultees, including the Environment Agency, were.  Councillors recognised the need to dredge for the sake of safety for harbour users.  They pressed for more sand to be returned to the 'cell' but were told that the 80/20 split was 'approved by the 'statutory consultees'.

15 May 2008.  The Harbour documents are now available on-line. I have also posted a blog with some of the areas I am looking at.  Add your comments, too.  Click here for the blog.

14 May 2008.  The Hawkins 'action meeting' (see below) was well-attended and strongly supported the town council's position.  Bob Mims drew up sketches of the two alternate proposals.  Click here to see them.

12 May 2008.  The harbour dredging license has been issued.  Read a copy here.

07 May 2008.  The harbour planning application is now in the Hayle Town Clerk's office and will be available for public examination from Thursday 15th of May. Click here for documents as they become available.

Courtesy of LDA Design and ING RE. 

Aerial photo copyright Peter Channon

04 May 2008.  Rose Woodward of the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Cancer Patient & Carer Group has placed the following petition on the Prime Minister's web site: We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to allow Cornwall to have its own Centre of Excellence for cancer surgery. In November 2007 Cornwall County Council approved the transfer of some cancer services out of Cornwall, thereby removing the choice from cancer patients to get cancer treatment close to their home, families & friends. This means that Upper Gastro Intestinal cancer surgery, Head & Neck cancer surgery and Complex Gynae cancer surgery can be withdrawn and moved to Exeter or Plymouth. Please sign this before 7 August at:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Cornwall-cancer and tell your friends.

29 April 2008. The Hayle Residents Association has called an 'Action Meeting' on May 12th at 7-30pm in the Foundry Bar to discuss the Hawkins site on Hayle Terrace.  The Residents Association was successful in getting an excellent turnout to the first Parish Poll in Penwith for many years (if not the first) resulting in a 90% vote in favour of keeping the land open.

25 April 2008. The Harbour Development planning application was received this afternoon at PDC's offices.  It will probably be a week or so before details start to emerge.  A public exhibition will be held at John Harvey House on Thursday, 15th May, 1330-1830 and Friday 16th and Saturday 17th, 1030-1830.

20 April 2008. At a briefing for town and district councillors on Friday, ING RE and their architects LDA Design of Exeter announced that an outline planning application for the harbour development would be submitted within 'two or three days'.  Although there was little new to announce over the previous briefing (see it here), a good deal of work has been done on the studies necessary for a planning submission.  Once, the documents are officially submitted we will get to see the detail - and I will report further.

14 April 2008. The Montgomery Group made a presentation to the HAPP Business & Enterprise group on their proposals for Loggans Mill.  The group was generally excited by the jobs-related focus of the proposals.  The full presentation is available here.

01 April 2008. It may be April Fools Day but the SW Regional Development Agency was not joking when it announced today that the Wave Hub project was delayed for up to a year.  Read more here.

31 March 2008. For the latest on the One Cornwall unitary council reorganisation, click on the logo on the right.

22 March 2008. On March 11th, the PDC Planning Committee ignored the position of Hayle Town Council and voted to send a design brief for the Hawkins Motors Site on Hayle Terrace for consultation.  Hayle Town Council wanted to restrict development to the current footprint but the design brief covers about double that area.  Read more here.

04 March 2008. You now pay more council tax for Policing than you pay for the services provided by the District Council.  The Chief Constable of the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary has written to councillors to explain why their precept is increasing.  Read the letter here.

22 February 2008. The Gypsy and Traveller issue was discussed at the Hayle Town Council meeting last night.  Matt Barton from PDC sent a letter to the council just before the meeting offering some suggestions on how to proceed.  Councillors were outraged at the way the whole process had been handled.  Read more here.

20 February 2008. The consultation period for the Hayle Area Action Plan will be extended until the 25th of March.

16 February 2008. In addition to the Hayle Area Action Plan there is also a consultation period under way for the Core Strategy. The consultation ends on the 25th March 2008.  This document is senior to the action plan and contains big picture issues such as the number of homes that should be built in Hayle and the other major cities.  The Preferred Option allocates 3,250 homes to Hayle and Alternate 1 allocates 3,900.  Take a very close look at this document.  Click here for the PDC site or here to download from my site.

08 February 2008. I have spoken with the section at County Hall responsible for Gypsy and Traveller issues.  I was told that their forecasts gave a need for 2 transit sites in Penwith with one of those in Hayle.  There was also a need for a small residential site to be located near to Penzance.  Transit sites are designed for a maximum of five caravans and do not need to be located near to services.  I have requested copies of the source document and will post further details when I have them.

08 February 2008. The Hayle Area Plan Partnership has invited David Clough, PDC's point man for the Hayle Area Action Plan, to the following meetings:

• Heritage, Culture and Environment, Tuesday, 19 February at 7-30pm at the Passmore Edwards Institute
• Community Well-Being, Tuesday, 26 February at 7-30pm at the Day Care Centre. 
• Traffic and Transport, Wednesday, 27 February at 7-30pm at the Passmore Edwards Institute

He has asked for feedback - here's your chance to give it to him.

06 February 2008. The Hayle Area Action Plan has identified a number of sites in the Hayle area for Gypsies and Travellers.  Based on the number of letters, emails and calls I have received on this subject it is proving highly controversial.  For more information click here.

24 January 2008. ING RE has finally submitted plans for the harbour development to PDC planning for an initial review.  The total number of dwellings now tops the 1,000 mark and comes in at 1,039.  The package in total is not yet complete but it does give PDC a chance to check the submitted parts for completeness.  Early information indicates that the bridge at the end of Copperhouse Pool is still there and that no new ideas for handling the issues of traffic and access have been submitted.  I will keep this site updated with the latest information.

23 January 2008. The Hayle Area Action Plan 2006-2026 is now out for review and comment. This is an important part of the planning process which sets land use priorities and policies for the next 20 years. You have a chance to give your input to this process and the deadline for comments is 29th February 2008 (it looks like and extension until the end of March is likely) . You can download the complete package from PDC’s web site. Follow the links from www.penwith.gov.uk.

19 January 2008. The Convergence Programme 2007-13 details have now been published.  They provide for €458 million with some extra money for training.  Read the details here.

11 January 2008. Following the Examination in Public of the Draft Regional Spatial Strategy, the panel has now produced a report which makes some substantial changes.  Hayle has been upgraded somewhat and at least gets a mention (pp 154 and 159).  They have now increased the housing provision for Penwith from 4,800 to 7,800 - a substantial increase.  There are still no Strategically Significant Cities and Towns (SSCT) in Penwith. Read it here.